The desire to breastfeed is the first step to a successful breastfeeding practice. This gives the mother the “I can do it” attitude to start breastfeeding.
Asking a supportive health professional, attending classes, and reading books on the how-tos of breastfeeding allow mothers to sustain the practice. They are also able to recognize and overcome common nursing problems like engorged breasts, sore nipples, and plugged ducts.
But just how does a breastfeeding mother prepare for breast cancer, urticaria, and even pre-ecamplasia?
Here are three women who prove why a mother’s love is limitless as it is boundless like the milk that flows from their breasts.
Five years ago, Maybelle Ti was diagnosed with breast cancer. One of her breasts had to be removed and she immediately underwent chemotherapy.
“Being young and single then, I felt all my plans and aspirations for my future wiped away,” Maybelle shares. “That included my dream of someday getting married and having children.”
Miracle
But the next three years unfolded one miracle after another. She was declared cancer-free, was able to walk down the aisle, and even gotten pregnant.
When she reached her third trimester, Maybelle began to wonder whether or not she would still be able to breastfeed. Biopsy was performed on her other breast so there was possibility that milk ducts may have been severed.
Undaunted, Maybelle read books, looked up studies on the Internet, and attended breastfeeding classes. Her husband Ken supported her through it. They were both determined to give breastfeeding a try.
On April 30, 2005 Maybelle gave birth to daughter Sophie Therese via emergency caesarian section. She was borderline premature so she was kept in an incubator for 36 hours.
“My mind was racing the whole time,” Maybelle relates. “I kept asking myself, ‘How can I initiate breastfeeding with her? What if she gets hungry? What if they give her formula?’”
Finally, she was able to room her baby in and nurse for the first time.
However, Sophie seemed dissatisfied. Every time she put her down after a feeding, Sophie would cry and move her head around as if looking for her nipple. Amid the crying, well-meaning nurses, doctors, and family members were taking turns telling her what she feared hearing: Your milk is not enough.
But her husband Ken reminded her about the research they read. He said, “Look, if I feel that my daughter is starving, I’d be the first one to tell you to stop breastfeeding. But you and I know that she’s not.”
Finally, as Sophie’s feeding schedule became established, so did Maybelle’s milk supply. When she was three months old, her cheeks became unmistakably round and full. Two more months passed and Sophie became a picture of a bouncing baby girl. All the talk about her lone breast not having enough milk was heard no more.
Already more than two years old, Sophie is now a toddler who looks at the world with wide-eyed wonder. She is still breastfeeding from Maybelle‘s beautiful scarred breast.
Tradition
For Tet Siasoco, she knew she would be breastfeeding her son the way her grandmother breastfed her mom, and her mother breastfed her.
Even as her mother made known to Tet the positive effects of breast milk, she continued to read books and joined forums to learn other things about the advantages of breastfeeding. The thought of a strong and healthy baby empowered her even more to exclusively breastfeed for as long as she can.
But committed as she was and supported by family and even her pediatrician, Tet faced a breastfeeding challenge. She was diagnosed with allergic urticaria, a skin condition that resulted in red skin wheals or hives all over her body. Since her medication might cause adverse effects in her breast milk, her dermatologist advised her to stop breastfeeding.
“I felt the world crash down on me,” Tet recalls. “I don’t want to deprive my son of his best source of nutrition.”
She was determined to continue breastfeeding after she completed her treatment. So for the next three weeks, Tet pumped out milk religiously every three hours, day and night, to maintain her milk supply. But all the milk she collected she had to throw away.
“On my last day of treatment, I felt overjoyed knowing that Izech would soon feed directly from me,” says Tet.
Izech was breastfed until he was two years old. Now four, he is active, smart, and a fun-loving child that Tet credits as a result of breastfeeding.
“He is the prolific outcome of a small sacrifice I made,” Tet shares. “I’m thankful to my mom and grandmother for showing me the real meaning of motherhood through breastfeeding.”
Filled with love
Ever since Beverly Sevilleno was a child, she knew she wanted to become a mother. She played mom to her dolls. Beverly would sing to them and hug them.
So when she got pregnant after more than two years of being married, it was a dream come true. But it was not to be that easy.
On her 26th week of pregnancy, she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication due to the presence of significant amounts of protein in the urine.
Five more weeks later, the doctor advised Beverly and her husband that the baby had to be delivered since her placenta did not have enough amniotic fluid. The couple was told to prepare themselves for any eventualities.
Benito was born weighing only 798 grams, or less than a kilo. Two days after her operation, Beverly was able to visit her son at the neonatal intensive care unit. Her knees shook when she saw him for the first time inside the incubator. All sorts and types of tubes and wires were attached to him. She clutched on to her chest to prevent her heart from breaking each time Benito would cry from pain due to the injections on his minuscule hands and feet.
But beyond Benito’s pitifully frail appearance, Beverly saw how he was fighting to stay alive. She knew she would do everything in her power to help him.
Even with the medical bills piling, Beverly bought a good breast pump to express her milk. In Benito’s condition, she knew that only breast milk would make him grow big and strong faster.
“It’s the least I could do to ease his pains,” she says. “I knew he will find comfort in my milk filled with love.”
Beverly expressed milk regularly. She brought the milk to the hospital so Benito could drink it from a tube. Because of her perseverance, she was able to collect enough milk for her son and even the other babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.
During one of her daily visits, a mother approached her and said she admired and thanked her for what she was doing.
“I told her that as mothers, we should never give up,” Beverly stresses, “we should persist because our breast milk is what our children really need.”
In the 77 days that Benito stayed in the hospital, he drank nothing else but Beverly’s breast milk that she tirelessly pumped and brought to the hospital every day.
Mother and child are now home doing well.
Finally, Beverly is able to hold and sing to Benito as she breastfeeds him — just as she dreamt it when she was a child.